The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the organiser of Africa’s biggest entrepreneurship-focused event, has announced October 25, 2018, as the date for its 4th edition of the Entrepreneurship Forum. The forum that has since inception attracted the largest gathering of African entrepreneurs and the broader entrepreneurship ecosystem is expected to host Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The two African heads of state from East and West Africa respectively will have an interactive session with over 5,000 entrepreneurs, to be moderated by the TEF founder Tony Elumelu in Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos. This, as part of what the foundation describes as ‘face to face with the new generation of young business women and men shaping Africa’.

On what to expect this year, TEF Founder also United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group’s chairman Tony Elumelu in a press statement said, “This year, we are truly achieving scale and impact; we received over 150,000 applications in 2017 alone, up from 20,000 applications in 2015. We are now calling on the current generation of African success stories and others to partner with us to see how we can all further create impact, genuinely transform millions of lives and increase the number of inspiring stories we will be hearing in Lagos”.

The TEF Entrepreneurship programme currently in its 4th year, has empowered 4,460 entrepreneurs with a total investment of USD20million; 4,000 of whom have received direct funding from the foundation and 460 funded by partners. Entrepreneurs who have made it to the TEF programme are taken through an intense twelve week induction where after they qualify for seed capital of up to USD5,000 and additional mentorship and training. The forum in October will therefore be the climax of the induction bringing together global investors and leaders from the public and private sector, mentors and mentees all in one venue.

“The TEF Entrepreneurship Forum is the only event across the continent that brings together the complete African entrepreneurship ecosystem, demonstrating our commitment to capturing the whole continuum – from the entrepreneurs themselves, governments who must provide enabling environments, to capital, advice and perhaps most importantly access and network”, said Parminder Vir, CEO Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Established in 2010, the TEF programme is a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor, and fund 10,000 entrepreneurs with a goal to invest in businesses that will generate at least 1,000,000 new jobs and contribute at least $10 billion in new annual revenues across Africa.